


catch up;

by mizukata



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, behold my shameless self-indulgence, i'm so sorry the both of you aren't a thing, somewhat of a vignette collection, welcome to rarepair hell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 07:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5734264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizukata/pseuds/mizukata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>it takes four seasons, frequent visits to various arcades, and constant wagers for free food. And oh, a hell lot of tokens.</p><p>(or: the Grandmaster is constantly tested, and the results aren't pretty... on Karma's wallet, at least.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	catch up;

It was their first year in high school when Akabane Karma finally chances upon Kanzaki Yukiko playing at an arcade.

(Funnily enough, that same arcade she played in that afternoon was the one he frequented at - it wasn’t far from Kunugigaoka and as a bonus, it had better air conditioning, prices _and_ staff compared to other arcades. The second and  third factors were correlated, perhaps partly due to his influence seeing as the staff found a green plastic knife intimidating, along with the toothy grin he would always flash at them. It was a miracle that they haven’t kicked him out or banned him from the arcade altogether, but hey, he was a frequent _and_ a paying customer.)

It’s undeniably and unmistakably her, she who was Class E’s madonna. Nothing much had changed about her physically, she was still the girl with the slim petite figure although now her hair cascades longer, flowing neatly down her back and almost reaching her waist. The uniform she now donned along with her tights was dark blue in color, no longer gray.

She, apparently, was the mystery girl who was the talk of the arcade as of late; responsible for the high score at the first person shooter game that was recently installed and boasted an intense difficulty unlike any other shooting games. Many have tried the game in hopes of beating it but to no avail, then suddenly lo and behold, this girl walks in and beats the game on her first try without any effort or deaths, making her the first person to beat the game - the realization dawns upon him when he walks right into the arcade and sees the gathering crowd at the shooter game area and sees her there, the screen flashing out a score in ridiculously sparkly gold numbers. The crowd cheers, and he distinctly hears a spectator shout: ‘it’s her third time beating the game! Completely flawless - no deaths, plus she got an even higher score! How cool is that!?’

(To be fair, he was the second person to beat the game with his score second to hers and he is constantly reminded of it for the past days that he’d been trying to beat her score, and he could’ve beaten the game at his first try as well if not just for an ill timing to run out of tokens.)

Setting the gun back down in its rest, Kanzaki Yukiko is about to step down from the platform when her eyes catch sight of the red of his hair from the crowd. Her eyes find his and she gives him a smile - it’s the one she always wore during their junior high days, the nicest of greetings, the most serene he had ever seen, the expression that he would always come to associate with her - and in return Akabane Karma’s teeth grit together and his lips pull upwards in a grin as he made his way through the crowd, eyes never leaving hers even as he stood in front of her.

How about another round? he says, pointing to the machine behind her.

There’s mumbling from the crowd as Karma hops onto the platform, taking a pseudo-gun into his hand and pointing it at her.

She blinks for a moment then nods, her face painted with multiple shades of colors under the arcade’s lights.

Alright, she says with a smile - and he smiles back.

(That’s their first game and his score is again, another far call from hers. He also dies twice, while she didn’t have to spend a single token - in the corner of his eye he sees the upward curve of her lips again, but to him it’s no longer a smile but a smirk.)

///

After his grueling number of losses (eighteen to be exact, why did he even bother keeping track) it occurs to him that he spent half of his money in his wallet for tokens, and along with that he also spent the rest of his afternoon in attempts of trying to beat Yukiko and fail.

(Throughout all those eighteen matches she never said a single word, not even a word of protest when he demanded rematch after rematch. A smile only continued to grace her face, and perhaps they could’ve gone through a nineteenth round if not only for a group of children begging Yukiko in particular, to have a round at the shooting game.)

Both of them step out of the arcade to see the sun setting on the horizon, the sky now painted with hues of reds, yellows and oranges. She’s smiling again, ever so nicely - it’s just the upward curving of her lips, an indication of her happiness - there’s no smugness in it, or so he perceived it would have.

Kanzaki-san, he says. She turns to him.

Yes?

Do you come here often?

.

.

.

In the same week of his encounter with Yukiko, Karma spends the remaining half of the money in his wallet with a sudden interest in shooting games, bringing joy to a game shop owner eager to sell off his stock.

(It has nothing to do with his pride, gods be damned - it just so happened that Kanzaki Yukiko  _was_ better than him at that kind of game, and during those eighteen grueling matches with her, he grew fascinated with shooting games - he bought at least six different games for his honest interest and enjoyment, and certainly not for… _other_ intentions.)

On the weekend he snuck looks inside the arcade in the morning, eyes searching for her figure.

When he doesn’t see her, he walks away.

.

.

.

Two weeks later after her encounter with Karma, Yukiko goes back to that particular arcade on a Saturday.

The staff greets her warmly upon her arrival (particularly that one male staff who looks like he’s in his thirties but has a scraggly stubble that makes him look older) and she replies to their greetings warmly as well. Her eyes flit from machine to machine, and she’s about to walk over to the game of her choice when another customer arrives. The staff gives a somewhat shaky greeting (particularly that one male staff who looks like he’s in his thirties and now suddenly wears a face mask to cover his stubble) and she turns around to see Karma casually spinning a green knife around with one hand.

(She smiles, not at him but at the sight of the green knife; it hasn’t been that long but the item brings her such a warm feeling of happiness and nostalgia. She, herself, kept also a knife as a keepsake and it was something that always managed to lift her spirits.)

Good morning, Akabane-kun, she nods at him.

Kanzaki-san, he nods back at her.

The offer comes out of her mouth before she could reconsider.

Would you like to play? she asks.

///

It’s true that Yukiko merely offered to play and didn’t bother specifying what game they were to play - Karma takes satisfaction in leading her away from the shooting games and directs her to the other available games of the arcade, claiming that they seemed interesting too.

She doesn’t argue with that - if she was being honest, for all her visits in this particular arcade, she only played the recently installed shooting game with an interest for its renowned difficulty. While there were arcades nearer to her area, the shooting game was enough to pique her curiosity in the other games available in the arcade.

(Although what makes her quite excitable perhaps, was the fact that she was playing with someone. While she didn’t voice it out, she thoroughly enjoyed their time at the shooting game for it was such a long time since she had played a game with a friend, much less someone who could keep up or stick with her. However, she still found it a little surprising that she was playing with Akabane Karma - she _did_ consider him as a friend, but if she was being honest she knew far too little about him despite the fact that they had the same circle of friends.)

Yukiko leaves early, however. She checks the time after their seventh round of Tekken and then she rises from her seat, and after saying her thanks and goodbye, she does an eshaku and leaves. Karma chuckles at that - she really did know her manners.

What he doesn’t chuckle about however, is that out of the three different games and all the rounds they played, she managed to win all of them… _again_. He runs a hand through his hair and exhales a sigh.

(Admittedly, there’s the familiar feeling of frustration running in his nerves, warming up at his ears and tugging at the back of his mind - but if it made him feel any better, he hadn’t spent a single yen on tokens today because Yukiko insisted that she’d pay instead... and during their Tekken matches, she had a number of close calls - a pretty high number, in fact.)

Later that afternoon, Karma sets his eyes on fighting games.

///

Eat, sleep, maybe a little walk around the premises if possible, reading, watching TV or if lucky, a surprise visit from someone - asides from that, nothing much was thrilling in a nursing home, but an old lady in her eighties currently found joy in talking with and observing the young lady who had volunteered to assist every weekend afternoons.

Blurry eyes watch her move about the room. How long had she been a volunteer, three months? The old lady can’t recall but she smiles a toothy grin, there’s something different about the young lady today and it makes her feel happy, all warm and fuzzy inside.

Yuki-chan, the old lady speaks. She’s sitting on the bed, back comfortably resting on a bedrest. Yukiko turns to her, bedsheets bundled in her arms.

Yes, Sanae-san?

You feel happy today.

.

.

.

The next day, both Akabane Karma and Kanzaki Yukiko could be found again inside that particular arcade.

Except that for that morning they weren’t playing together: Yukiko arrived earlier and was kept occupied by a group of children who wanted to see her play the first person shooter game, while Karma on the other hand only had the intention of playing a few rounds of Tekken.

That changes once he sees her though, and he settles instead for watching her play. Her fingers are swift to point or shift the gun in her hands, her eyes remain steady and focused on the screen despite that one kid constantly tugging at the end of her skirt. She’s still a remarkably good shot and it’s somewhat unnerving - it’s like seeing her again during their assassination days, but now her gun was directed only towards virtual targets.

He eyes her face - rather, her facial expression, and a smile tugs at his lips.

It’s nice to see that smiles didn’t grace her face all the time.

.

.

.

Kanzaki-san.

Yes?

How about a few rounds of Tekken? On a condition, though.

And what would that be?

The loser has to treat the winner food. Anything would do - nothing too expensive.

She blinks for a moment, eyeing the grin on his face, his lax posture. Eventually she nods, her face painted with multiple shades of colors under the arcade’s lights.

Alright, she says with a smile - and he smiles back.

**Author's Note:**

> an eshaku is a Japanese bow performed when you see an acquaintance of equal business or social rank. yukiko does come from a conservative rich family who wanted her to be a yamato nadeshiko... but she became a yamato gamer chick nadeshiko instead. i really like the fact that she still retains her ojou factor tho
> 
> feedback is much appreciated, if it isn't much to ask. thank you for reading!


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